Interesting People mailing list archives
ID Cards and the Big Lies
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Thu, 7 Jul 2005 17:00:27 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com> Date: July 7, 2005 4:57:03 PM EDT To: dave () farber net Cc: lauren () vortex com Subject: ID Cards and the Big Lies Dave, Another especially insidious aspect of modern ID card systems is that they are nearly universally "sold" to the populace under false pretenses. All manner of pie-in-the sky, computerized, biometric benefits are promised, while the problems and manners in which they actually *weaken* security and make identity theft problems *worse* are ignored, as are the vast potentials for commercial abuse, discrimination, and so on. Like the snake oil salesmen of yesteryear, the ID card pitchmen weave tales of security glories with as much substance as fairy dust. That their motives are often laudable is no excuse for their fantasies in this regard. But they do know how to take advantage of opportunities. Will we shortly see the tragic events in London today used as talking points to try seal the deal for a vast British national ID "Ministry of Information" infrastructure? Does anyone care to bet against this scenario? --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein lauren () pfir org or lauren () vortex com or lauren () eepi org Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 http://www.pfir.org/lauren Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org Co-Founder, EEPI - Electronic Entertainment Policy Initiative - http://www.eepi.org Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com DayThink: http://daythink.vortex.com - - -
Begin forwarded message: From: "Perry E. Metzger" <perry () piermont com> Date: July 7, 2005 9:52:28 AM EDT To: hadmut () danisch de Cc: cryptography () metzdowd com Subject: Re: [Forwarded] RealID: How to become an unperson.
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So, the next time one of your friends in Germany asks why the crazy Americans think ID cards and such are a bad thing, remember my father, and remember all the people like him who fled to the US over the last couple hundred years and who left children that still remember such things, whether from China or North Korea or Germany or Spain or Russia or Yugoslavia or Chile or lots of other places.
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- ID Cards and the Big Lies David Farber (Jul 07)